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Subscribe to RSSHouse budget chief Rep. Paul Ryan knows that his proposed budget, which includes entitlement reform, is politically risky, but he says the need for overhaul is worth giving Democrats a political weapon. "'Is this a political weapon we are handing our adversaries? Of course it is,' Ryan said Thursday. 'I think everybody knows that we are walking into I guess what you would call a political trap that arguably we are setting for ourselves ... but we can’t wait. This needs leadership.'"
GOP budget negotiators are meeting with White House emissaries to work on a deal to avoid a government shutdown, but they'd rather not talk about it. Politico writes that "there’s also an almost palpable sense of drift, and the level of paranoia is such that Republican aides won’t even admit meeting with the president’s team, even though the groups were seen together in the Capitol."
Proposed cuts to foreign aid are driving a wedge between the Pentagon and some House Republicans eager to slash spending. The Hill: "The House-passed 2011 continuing resolution, H.R. 1, included a $121 million cut to the annual United States Agency for International Development (USAID) budget, which would amount to a 9 percent funding hit. The State Department has pushed back against the proposed cuts, and senior Pentagon officials, including Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Gen. David Petraeus, have become vocal and powerful allies."
Rep. Darrell Issa is taking on D.C.'s new mayor. "A congressional committee has launched an official probe into allegations by Sulaimon Brown, the fired D.C. government employee and former mayoral candidate who says that Mayor Vincent C. Gray promised him a job and that he received payments from two members of Gray’s campaign for attacks on then-Mayor Adrian M. Fenty last year."
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Sympathies to Representative Paul Ryan, once again his party is using him as a scapegoat to do their dirty work.
True American (or should I say 'True Teabagger'):
If a "real american" is someone who puts his POLITICAL life on the line, then just what in the hell do you call the:
Huh? Who ARE these folks - please tell us. Because they're putting WAY MORE than any 2-faced politician.
True American,
"Real American" is not reserved for Republicans. The way they have behaved lately, especially in Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan and Florida, you will be lucky to hold on to any seats in 2012. You will lose many to recalls. Thank God for recall provisions for bad leaders! Republicans, like you, know the STRAWMAN arguement well since Republicans use it daily on TV.
Anabanana, when will you and the Libs and Dems learn? Are you deaf? America is bankrupt. Thanks to that man in the WH and his hee -haw voice. The Tea Party and the Repubs will be back in power in the blink of an eye. Your Union demonstration is just a minority trying to claw its way back to power. Remember you Dems were in power when you bankrupted the country. Spend , spend , spend. How do you manage your households? You spend more than your earn? Yeah, I know its other people's money that is why you spent us into oblivion. I have never seen a political party like this.
JuvenBachan
you have your dates mixed. The election was in Nov of 2006. The Congress changed over in Jan. 2007. The The collapse of the U.S. housing bubble, which peaked in 2006, caused the values of securities tied to U.S. real estate pricing to plummet, damaging financial institutions globally. The rest went down like a domino.
also, we were in this situation already after the Bush Sr. A major problem with the economy at that time was the issue of the massive deficit and the problem of government spending. In order to address these issues, in August 1993, Clinton signed the Omnibus Budget Rec. Act of 1993 which passed Congress without a single Republican vote. It raised taxes on the wealthiest 1.2% of taxpayers, while cutting taxes on 15 million low-income families and making tax cuts available to 90% of small businesses. Additionally, it mandated that the budget be balanced over a number of years and the deficit be reduced. This was to be achieved through the implementation of spending restraints.
Why not learn from the past?
If Rep. Ryan wants to lead the derp-brigade to the political slaughterhouse in 2012, then I say let him have at it.
Has Ryan or any Republican/Tea Party people ever talked about having the wealthyhelping to reduce the deficit? It seems that they only want poorer Americans to sacrifice. For example all the new Republican/Tea Party Governors that plan on cutting educational and other programs that help the lower class, while giving huge tax cuts for business and the wealthy. The onlytime I hear them mention jobs is in terms of cutting jobs. Mr. Issa, will you ever have one of your investigations check into to where that 8 to 12 billion cash dollars that was sent to Iraq went? No you won't, well I'm not surprised as it probably went into the pockets of some of your best friends.
Why is Rep. Ryan spending all of his time and energy going after a MAXIMUM of $1 BILLION with entitlement cuts when we can gain $100 BILLION - without breaking a sweat - eliminating the redundancies in Government agencies?
Hey Dems, what it is about the $105 billion to finance Obama care? Dems you are fooling the American People. You elect an unknown president, with a hee-haw voice and a penchant for spending. And a real party goer. I've never seen anything like this.
Pietro,
How about we do it at the same time? geez
Because the EASIEST and most politically productive item is the redundancy in Government. There is broad consensus from both sides of the aisle that we need to eliminate waste. Eliminating Redundancy is a no-brainer because no matter which side of the fence you are on, it is political gold.
JuvenBachan
You elected a president that bankrupted 2 companies and a country; then, you were willing to elect McSame and Palin. McCain would have continued Bush's failed policies and Palin would ....I don't know what she would have done maybe wave to the Russians from her kitchen window.
I am glad the majority of Americans are rational thinkers. Some of the posters here scare me. Extreme on either side is not healthy.
Grand Mo. - If Rep. Ryan wants to lead the derp-brigade to the political slaughterhouse in 2012, then I say let him have at it.
Time will tell who will be knocking at that slaughterhouse. I agree, let Ryan do his job and we will see. That's what nice about elections. You may not agree with him, but he does seem to be sincere.
America do not be fooled. Our politicians are only interested in looking in our direction when discussung neccessary budget cuts. They want to leave untouched tax breaks for oil companies, the vast out of control spending on military weapon systems etc.. Both parties are following a carefully choreographed script meant to program us (the dimwitted public) into thinking that the only choice they have is to slash "entitlements" or we risk a "government shutdown". Congress recently passed an extension to the ruinous Bush tax cuts for the filthy rich and not one of the threatened a government shutdown when they passed that legistlation! Hmmm?
Definition of the dirty word "ENTITLEMENTS" Any program paid for with American taxpayer dollars for services for and a direct benefit to same taxpayers AND NOT used for earmarks, pork, or fraud. NO WONDER OUR REPRESENTATIVES THINK IT IS A DIRTY WORD!!
Deals will be made behind closed doors, no transparency here! Obama will end up "reluctantly" conceding much to the republicans. I wonder are the democrats and the republicans really foes or just, in many instances, co conspirators?
Recently congress very curiously decided to cut social security payrole taxes just when there was a shortfall of incoming dollars. I find this to be very devious to say the least. Did they want to stimulate the economy (hah! hah!) or create the appearance of a greater problem with ss to help them justify slashing it?